Promise
by JjongandMe
Summary: Agent Barton nearly loses his life in a mission, and Natasha has to cope with fear and hope during his recovery. Warning: Little bit of foul language. One-shot, Clintasha.


Promise

* * *

Natasha had never felt this feeling before. It was like fear, mixed with anger, and so much more.

He promised he would stay with her, he promised. And if Natasha knew anything about Clint, it was that he never broke a promise.

Everything around her seemed to stop. All that Natasha could focus on was the bright red blood in front of her. It matched her red hair, and before she knew it, she was on the floor, willingly, next to Clint.

She ran her fingers over the all too familiar face of her beloved Clint Barton, and knew that she would never see him breathing, never see him smiling, never see him do anything except break her heart ever again.

"Natasha, are you alright? Are you okay?" The startled voice of Steve brought Natasha back to reality. "Don't touch him... Don't..." Natasha had tears streaming down her face, her face red and tired.

Bruce and Tony were now next to her. "Natasha... He's gone... Come on, let's bring you home." Tony's voice cracked with grief, and Bruce just stayed silent, though it looked like he was mourning.

The Black Widow shook her head. "He's not gone... Let's bring him home too." She whispered. Tony and Steve looked at each other in alarm, knowing that Natasha wasn't accepting reality.

Tony reached out a hand for Natasha, hoping that she would accept that Clint was gone, never to move again.

Instead, Natasha slapped Tony's hand, screaming. "Don't touch me!" Her voice faltered.

Steve walked to the side of the warehouse that was littered with bodies. He was talking into his earpiece. Natasha could just make out a few words, but those few words were enough for her to pull a gun on him. "Natasha's gone a bit mental. She can't accept that we lost Clint in battle." Steve was saying.

"I'm not mental!" Natasha screamed, slowly getting up. She whipped out her gun, shrieking, "You guys are... are..." Natasha crumpled, her finger pulling the trigger on the gun, firing the shot at random.

Lucky for the rest of the Avengers, the bullet hit the roof, not damaging anyone. Steve shook his head, and continued talking into the earpiece. "Bring a stretcher to carry Clint's body. We'll deal with Natasha." He spoke, quietly, in case Natasha could still hear him.

Tony limped over to a stool, and sat down on it, observing Natasha's behaviour. "It's going to be alright, Clint. They can't hurt you anymore." Natasha whispered, putting a hand on Clint's still body.

Less than 5 minutes later, the medical team was here, addressing Tony's injuries, along with Steve and Bruce's. They decided to leave Natasha alone for a little while, just for her to say goodbye one last time.

"Poor girl... I overheard their plans to get married one day. They were about to get engaged right after this mission." Tony whispered into Steve's ear.

The three turned to the sound of rustling, and could see that Natasha was rummaging through Barton's pockets. She pulled out two velvet boxes, and opened them.

"Clint... didn't forget me." Natasha let out a ghost of a smile, and slipped one of the rings on Clint's finger, and did the same with hers.

Natasha got up, slowly, one step at a time. She looked at the medical team, nodding. "Thank you." Her calm tone was back, but it was still shaky with fear.

The bright red blood on the floor shone in the sunlight. The rain had ceased, as if declaring a new day.

Tony and Steve helped Natasha get to the Quinjet, all of them silent on the way there.

* * *

Natasha walked back to her room in the Helicarrier the next day, not returning the glances that people shot her.

Just as she arrived, she heard the familiar _ring _of her phone. She picked it up, though not wanting to speak. "Is this Agent Romanoff?" A voice on the other end asked.

"Y-Yes... This is Agent Romanoff, speaking." She said reluctantly. "Good. Agent Barton has been found with a pulse, though a very weak one." The voice now sounded more like Bruce.

Natasha inhaled deeply, not believing her ears. Clint was alive. Bruce continued, "He's lost a lot of blood, and had two near fatal wounds near his ribcage. The medical team managed to fix the loss of blood problem, but we're undergoing surgery for the wounds. He's still alive, Natasha. He still is."

"Thank you, Bruce. Thank you." Natasha gasped, and hung up immediately. She then dialled a number into her phone, and waited impatiently for the other end to pick up.

"Stark Industries, whatdya want?" Tony's drunken voice came up on the other end. "It's Natasha. Clint's still alive, and is under surgery right now." She said, her voice weakening.

Natasha could hear the slosh of more liquid, although she was unsure if it was beer or not. "Tony, don't you dare drink anymore. I'm coming over; I'll be there in fifteen minutes." She sighed, still shaken from the battle.

She bumped into Steve along the way. "Steve, did you hear?" Natasha couldn't keep the excitement from her voice. "Clint is alive, and is undergoing surgery right now!"

Steve nodded, and smiled. "Where are you going now?" He asked. "Heading to Tony's place. Want to come?" She asked. Steve nodded again, grabbing his backpack.

* * *

In exactly fifteen minutes, a helicopter landed on Tony's roof. "GODAMMIT NATASHA! I TOLD YOU TO NOT LAND THE HELICOPTER ON MY ROOF. I JUST GOT THAT THING FUCKING REPAIRED." Tony shouted over the helicopter engine noises.

"Whatever, Stark. Just be glad I actually came to visit." Natasha muttered as she got out of the helicopter with Steve following.

"What's the Capsicle doing here?" Tony asked, his voice still sort of drunken. "I told you not to drink anymore," Natasha lectured. "If you're going to open up one more freaking bottle, I'll blow your whole collection to bits."

Tony yelped in surprise, and ran back towards his kitchen. "Do not touch!" He shouted. Natasha just shook her head, but with a pang she remembered that she did nearly the same thing back in the warehouse.

Another phone call came, and Natasha picked it up again. "Agent Romanoff speaking and I know it's you Bruce. What is it?" She asked, hoping for good news.

"It's about Clint's condition... We managed to remove one of the bullets that were close to his artery, but there's another bullet that's too far for us to get to without putting him at risk. We wanted to ask you for permission to continue this operation." Bruce said calmly.

Natasha paused. "What's the mortality rate? And what'll happen if you leave the bullet alone?" She asked. As much as she wanted her beloved Clint to have no more worry, she didn't want to put him at risk.

"Mortality rate is 65% chance of surviving, ma'am, and if we leave the bullet alone, it will reach his heart within five years and end his life permanently." Bruce replied, his voice getting slightly nervous now.

Steve glanced at Natasha, hearing their entire conversation. "I say you risk it, Agent Romanoff. Clint has a really high mortality rate, and you can trust Dr. Banner. It'll be alright." Steve murmured.

Natasha nodded hesitantly, and said to Banner, "Yes. I wish that you will keep Clint safe. Please continue the operation." She hung up the phone and sighed. "Tony, pass me a beer or two please."

He laughed. "Now you're getting the hang of it." Tony smirked, looking at Steve. "Want a drink? I can't get you drunk, but want one?" He asked.

Steve chuckled humorously. "No thanks, Iron Man. I'm good. I'd rather not wake up with a hangover the next morning." He knew all too well that although he couldn't get drunk, he could get a hell of a hangover the next morning.

Iron Man nodded, poured Vodka for himself, and slid two beer bottles across the glass bar. "Thank you, Mr. Stark." Natasha nodded, taking a bottle and drinking a sip of it.

"Ah come on, Natasha. Drink more! I bought the good kind~" Tony was back to being drunk, his voice sing songy, and Natasha could tell he needed to sleep, BADLY.

Natasha grabbed a bottle and half dragged, half carried Tony to his bedroom. "No! I don't wanna sleep..." He contradicted himself with a yawn, and Natasha quickly plopped him onto his bed.

"Good night, Mr. Stark. I'll inform you of Agent Barton's condition in the morning." She closed the door, sighing as she went back to sit with Steve.

Captain America smiled softly as he glanced back at Natasha. "Clint's going to make it out of this alive, Natasha. It's going to be alright." He soothed.

And although Natasha was now 'married' to Clint, she couldn't help but take comfort in Steve. "Thank you." She whispered, almost silently.

* * *

The news next morning was almost too much for Natasha to handle. It started when the phone rang loudly, almost obnoxiously, in her room.

Natasha picked up, not very surprised when the other end ended up being Bruce Banner himself. "Is this Natasha?" Bruce asked.

"Yes, Bruce. It's me." Natasha said her voice groggy. She had only caught 3 hours of sleep last night. "This is about Clint's condition..." Bruce paused for a moment.

Immediately he had caught the red-head's attention. "What's going on? Is he alright?" She hoped for the best. Natasha trusted Banner, and she hoped that Clint was alright.

Bruce sighed, and replied, "Yes. He's fine. He just needs some more rest. You can come visit him if you want." He smiled, although Natasha couldn't see.

"Oh my God, thank you so much, Bruce. I'll be coming immediately." Natasha whispered, hung up, and ran to the roof.

She bit her lip, unsure if Clint would be mad at her, happy for her, or what. Quickly, she started up the helicopter, and flew to the Helicarrier.

* * *

Clint could hear two faint knocks at his room door, and tensed. "Who is it?" He questioned, hand reaching for his bow, wincing at the pain that it brought him.

"No need to get your bow, Agent Barton." A quiet laugh came from the door. "Nat, that you?" Clint groaned.

Natasha walked over to his bed and sat at the foldable chair that was beside him. "You know, Nat, there's some really good leather chairs over there." Clint chuckled, waving his hand at the other side of him.

"I was so scared, Clint. What if... What if you didn't make it out alive? I wouldn't have been able to handle it..." Natasha didn't respond to his question.

Clint suddenly had a look of stone on his face. "I promised, didn't I, Nat? I never break a promise. I promised that one day I'd marry you, and I did." His fingers reached for her wedding band, and Nat pulled away.

"You don't understand! What were you doing, rushing into the crossfire like that? Bruce said that you had nearly died from loss of blood. And if that didn't finish you off, there was always the two other bullets imbedded in your ribcage," Natasha screamed, losing her cool once again. "What the hell were you thinking? You didn't think about the consequences, you didn't think about what would happen if you died!"

Clint flinched, seeing the tears on Natasha's face. And that was something to be worried about. Natasha NEVER cried.

"Natasha Romanoff. I promise that I will never leave you; you'll be safe with me. You'll always be safe." Clint whispered.

Natasha lost her breath, and she sat back down, thinking, _'When did I ever get up?' _

"And how can I trust you?" She said with a shaky voice.

Clint smiled, "Because I never break a promise." He whispered, reaching for her wedding band once again. This time Natasha didn't make an attempt to pull away.

"Oh, and Nat?" Clint murmured.

"Yeah, what is it?" Natasha asked, hoping it wasn't any more bad news.

"I'll never break that promise."

"I know, Clint. I know."

-x- END –x-

* * *

A/N: First one-shot I've ever made. Short little story about Natasha's feelings towards Clint, hope you like it. Sorry if it seems a little OOC, but Natasha has a soft side to her... right? I am now obsessed with Clintasha/Blackhawk/Hawkwidow/Blackeye/Widoweye/...Whatever the pairing's called.

As much as I want to say that I own Marvel Universe or the image, I don't. No copyright intended! I'm just another little fan-girl doodling images of the Avengers in her notebook.


End file.
